I’m excited to have a guest on board here at Bipolar For Life: Ruth Jacobs, author of the upcoming best-selling novel series Soul Destruction. Part one of the series, Soul Destruction: Unforgivable, will be released worldwide on April 29, 2013.

Soul Survivor: Ruth’s gritty, hard-hitting novel features a more-or-less close-knit group of friends who have at least two things in common: drugs, and prostitution. So what is this book doing on my blog, which tries its best to stay focused on mental health and child abuse issues? Probably because this group of tough customers has more than just two things in common.

Let’s read a passage from Soul Destruction: Unforgivable, and then we can ask Ruth to help us understand.

Aunt Elsie made tea and they sat on their usual white stools at the white, plastic table in the kitchen. Elsie, as always, sat facing…

It disturbs me that many people associate human trafficking and the sex trade just with women, as it extends far beyond that, and is much seedier than most would like to consider. In a previous video I posted entitled “Boys for Sale”, it shows the propensity that many pedophiles have for the flesh of young boys, and how vast this extends, at least in Houston in the 80s. There is also another documentary called “Conspiracy of Silence” which shows the problems that were experienced here in Omaha during the bilking of 40 million dollars from the Franklin Credit Union. When you factor in groups such as NAMBLA (the North American Man Boy Love Association), whose motto is “sex before eight or it is too late”, and pedophile groups like that of “Dreamboard”, which has been found to be in existence decades before the internet, one must wonder why all of this has been allowed to exist openly in the public eye.

I just attended a program on human trafficking in Nebraska, and the key speaker spoke of two films- one a Frontline documentary entitled “The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan”, and another called “The Whisleblower” which depicts the speaker’s experiences coming forward and reporting that American government contractors are heavily involved with the human trafficking trade abroad. The problem that I had with this presentation is that while human trafficking is a huge problem for third world countries, it is also very prevalent and ongoing in the United States as well, and local law officials in the States are about as eager to investigate and prosecute these criminals as Afghanistan is, which is a really sad take on America if you ask me.

Young boys were a focal point in the events that took place here in Omaha, NE- in the center of the United States, here in the 80′s and early 90s, as well as being in Houston- where “Boys for Sale” was filmed. These are just two places in America that this was a problem- and yet over and over it is viewed as an issue for women in third world countries. This HAS TO BE FOR A REASON! Defying logic and what is known about the issues here in the States, depicting this problem as it has been is misleading and one must wonder why our media doesn’t spend more time investigating and reporting the facts of the matter rather than leading society to believe that it is only poor countries that have this problem.

This injunction was granted one month after Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s speech stating

To use children for sexual purposes, whether through the wicked perversion of sexual abuse or through fantasies induced by child pornography, must provoke the strongest outrage and reaction from individuals and Government alike.

The Government has increased the penalties for child cruelty and tightened the law on child pornography by making possession of this material an offence but I am very concerned by recent reports of what is still occurring.

So last year and this year, we are making £7 million available to Local Authorities to train those involved in caring for children, particularly social workers, and student teachers are now taught about child abuse as an essential part of their preparation for teaching.

We are making the largest ever grant to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children to help them to establish their new training centre.

We have also, as you mentioned, Mr. Chairman, reformed the law so that it is clear, effective and fair. The Children Act of 1989 is the most comprehensive piece of legislation about children ever enacted in this country; it draws on the experiences learned in Cleveland and through the tragic deaths or abused children such as Kimberley Carlisle, Jasmine Beckford and Tara Henry. Above all, the Act seeks the right balance in protecting those too young and vulnerable to protect themselves while preventing excessive and over-zealous intrusion into family life by the State; and in 1988, the maximum penalties for child cruelty were increased from the previous two years to ten years—and rightly so!

Some of these matters, to which we have all had to respond, reflect the darker side of human nature and in tackling them our greatest source of strength comes from that other side of human nature—the reserves of sheer goodness and goodwill which find practical expression every day.